Has it really been that long?
by Soul-Tigeress
Summary: Misty meets up with Ash and company in Sinnoh,what will ensue? Will Misty confess to Ash? How long can her and Dawn hold a friendship? When did Molly arrive? HALTED. No longer in progress or complete, sorry.
1. Chapter 1

Ash stood there on the docks staring, he couldn't take his eyes off her. She'd changed, not much but just enough to catch his eye, no longer did she wear her hair up or wear suspenders. A blouse was lightly on her shoulders, it was turquoise in colour, and on the left hand side of her yellow top was clipped the Cerulean gym badge the badge design was also on her bag. Suddenly she cocked her head to the right and his focus was interrupted, "Ash are you okay?" her voice was soft and kind, his heart skipped a beat, "Ye-yeah, I was... I was just____________" he couldn't think what to say 'staring? No, taking you in? No, looking at you? No,' there was no way of explaining it, so he blushed and turned his face away from her.

"So you noticed?" the words registered but he couldn't think of an answer, "So you've noticed how I've changed?" again her voice rang in his ears, he gulped, he had to say something. Anything would do, so long as it stopped her voice... her voice was just too good, how he'd missed it all these months, or was it years, that he'd been travelling. "Yeah, how could I not." He took a step towards her, really he hadn't expected to see her there after all didn't she say that she didn't want to come to Sinnoh? After all his attempts to talk her into coming there with him, suddenly she was here and alone... it was just them on the docks, them and only them, not even Pikachu had come with him when he left the pokécentre for a morning walk and all Misty's Pokémon were in pokéballs. "Why are you here?" he asked as he stepped even closer towards her, she blushed and he smiled 'how cute she looked when she blushed' as he got even closer she answered his question "I_ I just couldn't take not seeing you, I've missed you!" she said it with such confidence and he closed the gap between them, pulling her into a hug, "Same here."

Then a huge cry rang into his ears "ASSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dawn's voice came crushing upon their moment and was soon accompanied by its owner, plus Brock and Pikachu. Rage and frustration was all over Dawn's face as she stormed up to the couple, who had separated from their hug, "Ash who's this?" her voice was shrill and sliced the two's ears with its piercing pitch. Brock stepped in to save Ash from explaining, "Misty, how've you been? Long time no see, when did you get here?" the bombardment of questions didn't phase the red-head at all, "Hi Brock! I've been fine, and you? Yeah has been a while and I only got here a few hours ago." Dawn fumed at the girl's relationship with her two companions, but then something registered in her mind 'Ash's fishing lure, was given to him by a "Misty"' this fuelled even more rage or more so jealousy.

As Dawn looked up at her friends again she saw a hand in front of her, "Hi I'm Misty, nice to meet you." The red head waited for Dawn to shake her hand, Dawn wasn't sure if she should but the smiles on Ash and Brock's faces compelled her to put her jealousy aside and try to genuinely get along with the girl, "Dawn, nice to meet you too. I've heard so little about you." The last words just slipped out of her mouth, and she mentally slapped herself but it didn't seem to faze the other girl, "Yeah, I guessed so... Ash isn't known for discussing his old friends with his new friends." Dawn laughed at the girl's simple remark and let a smile cross her face, "I know, right?"

Many hours later the group sat back in the pokécentre, Misty sat across from Dawn and the two where engrossed with talking about whatever came to mind. "Sooo, Misty, how's the gym going?" Ash butted into the girls' chattering abruptly but it didn't faze Misty, "Oh just fine, actually I'm here because my sisters believe I'm working too hard!" she laughed and turned back to Dawn who was now staring in awe at her, "You're a gym leader?" the red head grinned at the girl, so many people asked her this "Why yes I am, and one of the best in the Kanto region." Ash joined in on Misty's talk "Yeah, Misty runs the Cerulean gym... along with her sisters, The Sensational Sisters of Cerulean." Dawn's eyes gleamed and she instantly pounded Misty with questions "You're sisters are The Sensational Sisters? Wow, you are so lucky." The red head calmly waited while more questions where thrown at her, and gently answered each as it came.

The next day our group awoke to a bright, sunny day but Misty it seemed had already woken up and was outside training with her Pokémon. Ash and Brock where quickly outside to admire their old friend's training skills, "You've really stepped up your training Misty." Sighed Ash as he came to stand next to her, Pikachu at his heels, "Yeah well, I've got to be as original as possible when battling... it's not like I can use the same tricks over and over again." The girl took a breath before unclipping a pokéball from her belt, "Psyduck I choose you!" the girl cried as she threw the ball, the duck type Pokémon let out a cry as it fell flat on its face after being released, "Psy, Psy." Brock let out a chuckle as he joined his friends, "He still hasn't evolved yet, huh?" Misty laughed and shook her head, "No, not yet but soon I can feel it. Plus he's gotten a lot better!" As if to prove her point, Physduck pulled himself up and began to do some fitness exercises.

Dawn awoke to the sounds of many Pokémon doing daily exercise, "Pika! Psy, Psy! Azu~rill. ChimChar!" and so on was cheered from the area outside. She pulled herself out of bed and looked out the window, to see dozens of Pokémon giving it their all at jogging behind the red head, Ash also following and Brock preparing breakfast. The girl ran down the stairs and out the door of the pokécentre, still in her nightgown, and looked in awe at Misty's morning fitness training "Woah, Dawn you're up... perhaps you should get dressed, then you can come join us!" cheered Misty as she jogged on the spot in front of the girl, Dawn nodded and headed back inside.

Moments later, Dawn had her Pokémon joining in on the fun. "Wow, so you do this every morning Misty?" the girl laughed as she focused on keeping up with Misty, "Yep," Misty cried back. Suddenly the girl stopped jogging, and immediately so did her Pokémon (the one's that can jog or fly that is), this caught Ash and Dawn off guard and both ran into the back of the red head who turned around and gave them a cheesy grin "And then I do skipping, add 20 laps of swimming a brief snack and then proper training!" a groan was emitted from Dawn and Ash pumped his arm in the air, cheering out "Then let's do IT!" another moan from Dawn, and her Pokémon. Somehow, Misty managed to have enough skipping ropes for all of them which meant everyone had to do it, "OK, everyone let's do 20 forward and then 10 backwards!" the girl cheered to her Pokémon who seemed... pumped?

When it seemed that physical training was complete and all that was left was move training Misty decided to add "Oh wait, we've got to do mental training after this, it's important to keep your Pokémons' minds sharp otherwise they won't be able to improvise when strategy lets you down!" after this Ash let loose a complaint "Misty aren't you here to relax, take time off from all your hard work?" the girl blushed, and shifted her feet in the ground, "Yeah but it's important to keep healthy and train-" Dawn cut in before Misty could continue her mini speech "Yes it is, but you've got to relax.... play with your Pokémon, take things slowly." Ash laughed and wiped a tear from his eye, "No use telling her that Dawn, believe me, Misty's tough and always trains hard... and her Pokémon are just like that. Plus, its only morning just wait till evening and then you'll see her playing with her Pokémon!" Misty blushed, Ash still knew her so well even though it had been such a long time since they last met.

As the day wore on Dawn managed to witness the organization that was Misty, she and her Pokémon knew every aspect of what they were doing and had fun doing it. "No wonder you're a gym leader, you're so organized and you really bond with your Pokémon... hey your specialty is water Pokémon right?" the two girls where dangling their feet in the water of the bay, at the docks from earlier, and just relaxing with their Pokémon "Yeah, why'd you want to know?" Misty replied coolly as she watched her goldeen and luvdisc swim around her toes, "Well it's just... I really would like to catch a water Pokémon that could really wow the crowds at my next contest... but since Buizel, I haven't captured any water Pokémon... really." Mist gave Dawn a kind smile and kicked her feet in the water "Well then, I'm the person to ask. What you want is a Lapras, but their pretty hard to find no matter where you are... then again you might want a Dragonair, or then again a Dewgong would be nice." Misty turned away for a second to think but immediately snapped back to look at Dawn, "Or if you want to mix ice and water you could get a Spheal!"

After much bombardment on what kind of Pokémon she could get Dawn gave in to Misty and proclaimed "Okay, my new goal is to capture a Clamperl!" And that was that. The girls continued to sit on the docks for a while and then decided to head back to the pokécentre, where Ash and Brock were waiting with a ready prepared dinner for them all. Once dinner was done, they all turned in for the night, with plans to leave in the morning for the next town and Dawn's next contest.


	2. Chapter 2

Morning came, shedding thin sheets of light across the room and over the beds of Dawn and Misty. The two girls awoke early, mainly because Misty's alarm was so loud, and headed down stairs to wait for the boys who arrived moments later. Ash and Brock peered over the map at a random table in the pokécentre and figured the quickest route to the next town.

"If we keep travelling along the shore line and then cut through this forest, we'll be there in 2 days giving us a whole day to prepare for your contest Dawn." Brock announced as they stepped out of the centre, "And that'll give me a chance to catch a water Pokémon on the way!" Dawn bubbled with excitement as she remembered Misty's advice that she should capture a Clamperl for beauty and strength. Ash and Misty trailed slightly behind as they began walking, talking quietly together about memories from long ago "Do you remember that time with Mewtwo?" giggled Misty and so on.

When rain started to pitter patter on the group, it was early evening and they were almost ready to consider setting up camp. "Can we stop walking now?" groaned Dawn as she lagged behind her friends, "Not yet, there's some tree cover up ahead that will make a great spot to stop." Cried Brock from up front, meanwhile Ash and Misty where still laughing away about old times "And I thought MY Psyduck had evolved," cried Misty as Ash brought up the lost memory. Jealousy raged inside Dawn but she could do nothing to stop them bonding, plus they had known each other for longer who was she to intrude on their happy reunion?

As Brock finally stopped, Dawn could feel her legs giving out and moaned "AT LAST, SWEET REST!" as she collapsed on the ground, the rain had become gradually worse and frankly Dawn wanted to get dry and relax. With Dawn collapsed and cuddled in a towel, Ash was left to set up the tents and Misty the fire whilst Brock attempted to make dinner, "Pi-Ka?" asked Pikachu as he ferreted around Ash's feet and held up a dry-ish log for the boy to inspect. "Take that over to Misty Pikachu!" said Ash as he continued to hammer a stubborn tent peg into the ground, "I'll be done soon."

Misty had the fire up fast, before Pikachu could even give her the log he'd found but still he was rewarded "Good work Pikachu, I'm so proud of you!" Misty cooed as she bent down to give him a hug, then she whispered in his ear "and thanks for looking after Ash." The electrical mouse grinned at her and nodded "Pika!" as he trotted at her heels while she walked towards Brock, "So how's dinner going?" she queried as she sat down next to him, "Okay, could be better but this rain doesn't help." Commented Brock as he stirred in some ingredients.

The more the night sunk in tireder our young heroes got, and eventually it wore them down and they gave in to sleep. Whilst they were asleep Pikachu stood guard, watching to see if any rogue pokémon would attack but none did. Eventually the sun began to arise and along with it Misty, prepared for any new challenges that the day brought.

When the others awoke they could see the young red head in the distance, running along a small part of beach with Psyduck and Azurill at her heels. Her laughter chimed through Ash's ears as he went towards her, "Hay Misty! We're leaving now, everything's packed up and we're ready to go." He called out to her and she twirled around and ran towards him, pokémon following, with a smile on her face, "OK!" Once they were all together and their pokémon where back in their balls the group headed North West to cut through a nearby forest.

Ash was surprised that the whole time they were in the forest Misty did not freak out once, which was unusual considering she used to be terrified of bug pokémon. The quick cut through of the forest was just that, quick, not once did they encounter any rouge/rabid pokémon who wanted to pick a fight, Team Rocket or any troubles of any kind. Dawn couldn't be happier about this though because it meant she was definitely reaching her contest on time, though she hadn't yet caught a water pokémon which meant she'd probably use Pachirisu to wow the crowds.

When the group reached the pokécentre the first thing Misty asked was "Could I use the phone?" leaving the rest of the group to wander who she possibly had to call. "Of course, it's right over there!" said the Nurse Joy, pointing to the right hand side of the centre, "Thanks!" cried Misty as she walked off to the phone. The girl quickly dialled a number that was on a sheet of paper she'd pulled out of her backpack and waited patiently for someone to answer, "Hello, can I help?" it was a Nurse Joy so Misty must have been calling another pokécentre.

"Yes, I have a... understudy? Staying at your pokécentre, Molly Hale." The red head waited a moment while the nurse went to fetch the girl, in the meantime Ash, Brock and Dawn had managed to surround her, "Whose Molly Hale?" asked Dawn, Ash answered her simply with "An old acquaintance." Just at that time Molly seemed to appear, "Hi Misty!" the girl waved her hand vigorously with a Cheshire grin on her face. "Hey Molly, I'm in Sinnoh now so I thought I'd call and see if you want to get back to your practice?" the girl made a pained expression and batted her eyes, "But isn't this supposed to be your relaxation time?" Misty scoffed at her and gave her a serious look "Yes but I seem to recall you ran off half way through your training, so do you want to or not?"

Ash was extremely absorbed with the girls' conversation and Dawn was confused as to what they were talking about. Brock on the other hand had decided to lug their stuff to their rooms rather than eaves drop. Finally they reached a conclusion, "FINE, I'll continue my training but only when you get here... I'm kind of held up right now, you still have the city name right?" Misty nodded and quickly said goodbye before turning around.

"So how long have you been training Molly Hale for?" asked Ash as she faced him, "Not long, only about a year... she's getting really good and hopefully she'll be able to do great things when she's older, but at the moment she's here in Sinnoh helping with her father's research." Replied Misty as she went to go on to their rooms, "Who exactly is she?" butted in Dawn as they continued towards a set of stairs, "Just a girl who we helped a long time ago, but now she's my... student." Misty continued walking upwards until finally she opened the door to the room she'd be sharing with Dawn and collapsed on the bed.


	3. Chapter 3

After growing tired of Dawn talking Misty butted in on the girl who was in mid sentence "And then I caught _" "Um, Dawn not that your story isn't thrilling but shouldn't you be practising for your contest?" The girl panicked, pulled her hat down over her eyes and moaned "right," and then dashed off outside. Misty peered out of the window after a short amount of time to spot Dawn and Pachirisu practising their display moves, Ash was also hard at work training for his next gym battle "I remember when we used to argue over who was better," sighed the red head as she watched the boy putting his all into it.

"HAY Misty get down here, I need someone to practise with!" Ash's yell pulled the girl out of her remembering and brought her back to the real world, "Just a minute!" she called back, grabbing her belt as she left the room. Dawn stood next to Brock, a puzzled look on her face, "Why wouldn't Ash ask me to practise with him like always?" she thought out loud, "Probably because before we met you, quite a while ago really, Ash and Misty where evenly matched they'd win some and lose some in their matches against each other but always be ready for a rematch. He's just testing to see if that's still the same, plus Misty's a gym leader making her a better choice for practising against when preparing for a gym battle." Replied Brock as the red head appeared on the field, "You ready to lose Ash? Because I've got some tricks up my sleeve!" cried Misty as she took her place opposite Ash.

"Okay this is a three on three match, no substitution, lets begin!" announced Brock as the two trainers got ready. "I'll go first," said Ash "Grotle I choose you!" Misty took in the grass type pokémon before choosing a pokéball off her belt, "Ok then, Go Staryu!" to Ash and Brock's surprise Psyduck did not emerge from the ball but actually Staryu as Misty had said. Ash grinned, "Grotle use razor leaf!" a quick smirk appeared on Misty's face before saying "Staryu, water gun!" Grotle let loose his razor leaf attack but it was forced back at him by Staryu's powerful water gun.

Misty cried to Ash, "Come on Ash at least try to be serious!" before adding to her Staryu's attack a rapid spin, Grotle was thrown back by the attack and struggled to get up looking at Ash with fierce ambition. "Ok then take down!" As Grotle got up he charged forwards towards Staryu but wasn't quite quick enough, "Staryu, dodge and water gun!" as Grotle stumbled from missing the water type he was hit by a fierce water gun aimed at his back which caused him to fall down and become unconscious. "Grotle is unable to battle, the win goes to Misty!" cried Brock as Dawn cheered "Don't worry Ash you'll get her!" the match continued with the second round being between Buizel and Psyduck who surprisingly came out the victor.

The third match was Pikachu against Gyarados, it was a long and hard match but Pikachu one it and then beat Psyduck. But by the time Pikachu got to battling Staryu he was worn out and fell to the sheer power of Staryu's water gun. "Pikachu is unable to battle, Misty wins!" the girl pumped her hand in the air and turned to Staryu embracing it in a close hug, "Guess I really am the better trainer then Ash!" the boy laughed and smiled "Well I'll just have to get better then!" Dawn watched as the two laughed and joked about the battle and felt a twang in her heart 'Why can't I have that kind of relationship with him.' She thought but just then they called to her "Hey Dawn want to come swimming?" the girl brightened up and ran towards them "Sure!"

Dawn marvelled at Misty as the girl swam without surfacing, eventually Dawn and Ash both had to surface but Misty continued swimming beneath the water with her pokémon, "How can she do that?" Dawn gasped "It's just second nature to her; Misty's always been like that. She's just like her pokémon, she feels at home in the water." And just at that moment the red head surfaced "Wow I'd almost forgotten how beautiful lakes are, seeing as I'm restricted to the swimming pool back home!" Ash laughed "That's because you might swim all the way to a new place if they let you in the ocean!" the girl joined him in laughing and Dawn let out a small chuckle too. As they were just about to go back down Dawn asked Misty "Hay, have you ever entered a contest?" the girl shook her head and laughed "Who, me? Not a chance, I'd be too nervous and focus too much on how much power I could display without thinking about what it'd look like!" Dawn smiled "I'm sure you wouldn't, come on enter this one and I'll help you. Even Ash has tried it!" Misty looked at the boy and he laughed "Apom made me!"

When they left the swimming hole, Misty was still wandering about Dawn's request and thinking about how she would do it if she did, as they entered the pokécentre she answered "Fine I'll do it but only if Ash and Brock do too!" the group turned around to look at her and she added "the contest, I'll enter the contest." And the boys let out an OH. Back in their room Dawn and Misty went over different combos that Misty could do, "Your Psyduck is really cute but limited in moves so probably not him, but your Staryu is gorgeous and powerful which could allow you to do rapid spin into a water gun!" the red head moaned as Dawn continued to explain what combinations would achieve what, "look Dawn maybe we can go over this tomorrow rather than now?" Dawn looked up at her and sighed "Well ok, but we have to go sign up tomorrow too remember!" And with that the girls turned in for the night.

ST here, sorry if I got the pokémon moves wrong and do not fear the plot will unravel soon after the pokémon contest ^^.


	4. Chapter 4

When the sun had arisen Dawn had already pulled everyone out of bed to prepare for serious contest training. Misty and Staryu, Brock and Happiny, and Ash with Pikachu all stood waiting for Dawn to announce what they were going to begin with, "OKAY let's start with battle technique, and remember it's also about the beauty of your moves!" the girl announced in an overly peppy tone. As they trained in the way of a coordinator the trainers and breeder felt the burn of difference take its toll on their moves.

"Shake it off Misty, a friend once told me 'it's about the pokémon not the moves'!" Dawn called in encouragement as Misty's Staryu failed at completing the combo of moves, meanwhile Ash and Pikachu where kicking off with a somersault and iron tail after doing bolt tackle and quickly jumping into the air. When they reached break time Misty was still clueless as to what would perfect her move and consulted Ash on her troubles, "Hey Ash, looking good. So how'd you know what to do? I just can't get the timing right and well..." she kicked her feet in the dirt as she talked, "Well it's just like any match Misty, all that's added is a little extra style." Ash tried to help the girl with optimistic comments but it seemed to make things worse, "But I'm not like that Ash, you know me I always take things seriously!" the boy was quick to rebut "No you're not Misty, I've seen you when you play with your pokémon, always so care free." This left the girl to think and ponder what she was doing.

As the day came close to its end and the group finished training, they had to make a mad dash towards the contest arena in order to sign up. Dawn of course put their names down and made sure they were prepared for it. By the time they got back from the contest arena Dawn was flapping on about how they should prepare their outfits and fast, seeing as they'd wasted the whole day training, it took a while but eventually they all settled on what they would wear and left that as it was so that they could go to sleep.

At the contest arena there where many coordinators who were preparing themselves for what was to come but none could have been more nervous than Misty, she tugged at the purple and blue striped singlet and fiddled recklessly with her yellow suspender buckles. "Calm down Misty, you'll be fine," soothed Dawn as she pulled the other girls hands away from tugging out her ponytail, "Yeah!" cried Ash as he straightened his top hat, preparing to go out in only a few minutes. The girl started to breathe heavily though when she looked at the list of who was left to go, seeing her name so close to the end made her panic even more, and then Ash had to leave which meant only Dawn and Brock were there to try to keep her cool.

Once Ash stepped out into the stadium where the crowds were cheering at their hardest, the whole group watched the screen in the room backstage. He opened so calmly and Pikachu didn't miss a beat with their practised routine in mind, backstage though Misty was panicking knowing how unsmooth her routine was and losing confidence in herself fast. Eventually Ash came back telling her not to worry, but it wasn't until she heard Dawn leaving the room saying "Wish me luck!" that she realized how long she'd been zoned out for.

Dawn's routine was also smooth and well practised, Pachirisu was quick with jumping up into sweet kiss as her tail collided with one of the hearts and she let loose a small but powerful thunderbolt. Everything seemed to be perfect for everyone who went out, even Brock and Happiny's routine which was very rough had fitted itself into place gaining a huge applause. And then it was Misty's turn and she had to leave the backstage room, "Hey Misty, just don't treat it like a competition, relax!" said Dawn placing a hand on Misty's shoulder before she left for the stage.

She gulped and closed her eyes before pulling her pokéball off of her belt and throwing it into the air, "Staryu lets show them what we're made of!" she cried with a sudden burst of confidence as she opened her eyes again. Staryu seemed to spin in the air for a moment before landing in the sparkling lights, then Misty took a deep breath and stuck a pose she usually used in battle calling to Staryu "Okay Staryu use Water gun!" it didn't take a moment for the pokémon to do as it was told and it was even faster picking up when she called out "Now RAPIDSPIN!" The moves were simple and quite rough considering it was a contest, but together they compiled a wondrous effect that stunned the crowd and Misty.

That was all it took to make the girl feel better, she didn't even hear the compliments the judges gave her, and she just walked back to her friends and prepared to see who made it to the next round. All of the group had made it which both made them glad and worried, they didn't want to have to verse each other. As it turned out for the first part they were all up against a different person except for Ash and Misty who where against each other.

When it reached time for Ash and Misty they both new Pikachu would outclass Staryu which made it harder for Misty to stay confident as she ordered Staryu to dodge a quick attack and then go into rapid spin. But Ash used this to his advantage, having Pikachu jump up over Staryu using iron tale in the same way as their display and then following with thunderbolt. This left Staryu down and out, no longer able to battle and Misty left without a chance of being in the next round, but she was glad that she could at least say she'd entered a contest once and made it past the first round.

Misty wasn't alone in not making it, Brock had also lost his match which meant they both had to sit and watch as Dawn won her match and was announced to go on to the next round. When the second round came Dawn and Ash weren't up against each other but they still could have to fight one another when it all came to an end. Luckily that wasn't the case, where Dawn one her match Ash failed as he got lost in the battle and was left behind because of the beauty behind the others moves.

Now Dawn was in the finals and so close to her next ribbon, the group sat on edge hoping that Dawn could win. She came out beautifully and the other opponent seemed no match for Pachirisu, whilst not being the best in battle that often. As it all bubbled down to an end the result was called and Dawn returned to her friends as the victor, ribbon in hand and smile upon her face. "All right Dawn!" cried Ash as she returned and Misty let of a shy smile, "See Misty it wasn't that bad now was it!?" cheered Dawn spinning around with Pachirisu.

When our heroes returned to the pokécentre though there was a surprise for Misty, Molly had called. The red head ran to receive the call and chat to her student who had watched the whole contest on TV, "WOW Misty that was great! And I thought you'd flunk out using such brash moves but there you went and even got to the match round, I'm so proud to call you my teacher!" the girl flushed at all the compliments, making note to do something nice for her student when she saw her. "Well Molly, we'll be heading to where you are next so I'll see you soon." She said as she hanged up the phone.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: SHOULD have done this earlier but I'll do this now and then we can just never do it again. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING; I do not own Pokémon or its characters and so on.

That night the group celebrated Dawn's win with a bountiful feast. They ate under the stars, with their pokémon kindly left inside in front of the TV with Brock's special mix of pokémon food.

"A toast to Dawn, for being so fab." Cried Misty as she raised her glass, Dawn blushed as Ash and Brock applauded. "I wasn't that great really..." she said but the trainers just gave her a funny look before Ash said "Well you blew us out of the water." The group continued their celebrations till 12 when they decided to turn in for the night so that they weren't too tired to leave in the morning.

The next morning Misty woke up late, the others had already eaten breakfast and packed up by the time she got dressed. Misty was confused at how she could have slept in but she didn't let it bother her, she quickly got her stuff together and had a snack before meeting the others outside, "Sorry I held us up, usually my alarm wakes me up... but it seems it was turned off before it was supposed to go off." Ash and Brock said it was no problem, and Dawn just laughed saying "Don't worry; everyone sleeps in once in a while."

As they set off though Dawn couldn't help but feel a little guilty, Misty always seemed to wake up early and be ready for anything so Dawn had thought it would be nice if perhaps she didn't get to be miss perfect for once, Dawn had turned off Misty's alarm on purpose. However she would soon find out that Misty had imperfections just like everybody else, as they entered a forest. The forest was well known for being abundant with bug type pokémon as Dawn recalled Brock saying that morning.

"Eeeeeeeeek! Get it off, get it off!" cried Misty as a Caterprie crawled along her shoulder, Ash broke out into hysterics and Dawn had to ask "What's so funny?" Misty cried out at Ash that it wasn't funny as Brock took the pokémon off, and Ash replied "Misty's deathly afraid off bug type pokémon, I'd almost forgotten." Dawn chuckled for a bit and then told the girl not to worry, "They won't hurt you... wait don't you have a Butterfree?" The red head sobbed for a bit and then nodded, she went to say something but Ash cut her off, "Her Butterfree is the only bug pokémon she can withstand."

After that they continued to walk through the forest, and it seemed that every bug type pokémon they passed was out to terrify Misty. With every close encounter Misty would jump, and sometimes clutch at Ash's shirt, in fear. Dawn enjoyed the walk for the factor that she now had something on Misty, but also hated the walk because Ash continued to pay more attention to Misty.

When they reached a clearing, Misty demanded they set up camp. Brock began working on the dinner when they were done setting up and Misty and Ash just talked about what had changed since the other had left. Dawn was left to brood about being ignored, and eventually when she got tired of it she marched up to Ash and said "So do you want to spar? You have got a gym battle coming up soon, so shouldn't you be ready?" the boy blinked then grinned, "Alright you're on Dawn!"

So they battled and battled and battled, and finally when they were tired out they sat down and ate food. "Wow Dawn, you really held your own today, you're really improving!" Ash's soft words brought joy to the young girl's eyes, and for a moment she forgot that Misty was there until "Hey it looks like someone's coming towards us," the red head's voice chimed like bells and they all looked to where she was pointing. And sure enough someone was coming towards them, "Hey it's Paul!" cried Ash as his rival emerged from the trees, "oh great it's you guys," muttered Paul as he came towards them. As Paul sat down Ash introduced Misty, "Misty, this is my new rival Paul... he's even more annoying than Gary!"

As night settled in everyone turned in for bed, except Misty. Misty sat on a log staring at the clear night sky, 'I guess it really has been a long time' she thought 'Ash has really changed, he's a lot less stubborn and a lot more...' her trail of thought left her as she felt something nuzzle her foot, she looked down and was relieved to see Pikachu curled up at her feet. She rubbed the electric mouse gently behind its ears, saying to herself "It's good to see that you're still the same Pikachu," with that she heard a soft voice say "Have I really changed that much?" and Ash dropped down beside her onto the log.

"A-Ash! No-No-N, yes."

Ash sighed, "Guess it's to be expected, after all its been what two years since I last saw you?"

"Has it really been that long..." Misty's voice trailed off as a shooting star passed through the sky, 'Make a wish' she thought 'I wish that Ash will accomplish his dream soon and come back to Kanto.'

"Misty?" Ash asked as the girl continued to silently stare at the sky; he shook her shoulder a little, which got the girl quickly to turn to him and smile. "OH, it's nothing."

Morning came once again and a similar recount of events from the other day took place until the group found its way out of the forest. They stood in a huge town however, which reminded Misty of Celadon city back in Kanto, and needed to find a map in order to figure out the location of the gym and for Misty the research centre that Molly was staying at. "I'll just go quickly see Molly, and then I'll come watch your match Ash!" cried Misty as she bolted away from the group.

"If you guys are going to the gym then I guess I better tag along," sighed Paul as he begrudgingly began walking with them, "No need to be a sour face Paul, it's not like we're diseased!" replied Dawn as she fell into line next to him. The comment made Paul simply grunt at the girl, and to sigh thankfully when they at last reached the gym, but just as he went to walk in the doors Ash rushed ahead of him and shouted "You're not beating me to this badge!"

Author's note: Sorry I took such a long time to update; I wanted this chapter to be longer but I couldn't put it on hold for much longer so you'll get to hear about Misty and Molly in the next chapter, as well as Ash's gym battle and maybe some other things. Also if you happen to really like how this fan fic is going and would like me to write a fan fiction for another anime/manga/anything then please vote in my poll on my profile. Also after this chapter I'm going to try to knuckle down and get to the really point and action of this story; but I'll also be beginning my last year of High School so please be patient with me.


	6. Urgent Author's Note

AUTHORS NOTE:

Sorry to all my followers on this story but I'm no longer motivated to write this fic. If you were curious as to how things would go:

- There would be lots of Molly jiving Misty about telling Ash about her feelings

- Some major jealousy from Dawn resulting in a pokemon battle which Misty would win

- Acceptance on Dawn's part and some confidence boosting from Paul

- Some more jiving (this time from Dawn too)

- Some sort of event and some extra pokemon battles

- And the big reveal would be Ash would confess to Misty just before she confessed to him

That probably takes the fun out of the story but I thought I better help get your final questions out of the way and resolve the plot for you (or hey if you hate my version just go with it from where I left and make your own ending). Also if any of you folllow my other story 'Saving you from the dark', don't worry I still want to finish that one- its just on hiatus because of university and my own original stories that I'm working on.

Once more sorry to all the loyal fans of this story. Leave me an outraged comment if you want or whatever, thanks for reading my fanfic- I'm sorry I let you guys down. Also if you read up till this point thanks.

EDIT: Lightning07 has asked me to please leave this fic up so I will, but I won't be working on it.


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